Critics outraged over DeVos' decision that could help arm school personnel

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

Critics outraged over DeVos' decision that could help arm school personnel

Education and gun-safety experts said the Education Secretary's decision could allow schools to use federal funds to buy firearms.

by Suzy Khimm / Sep.04.2018 / 2:05 PM ET

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos says she has "no intention" of taking action against schools using federal grant money to purchase guns — a decision that leaves it up to states to decide how such funding should be used and that infuriated gun-safety advocates.

DeVos disclosed her position in an Aug. 31 letter to Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., following the news that the Education Department was considering a proposal to allow school districts to use federal funds known as Student Support and Academic Enrichment grants for guns and gun-training.

The grants give states "substantial flexibility" on how school districts should use the funds, and federal officials do not have the authority to tell them how the money should be spent, DeVos said in her letter. "Therefore, I will not take any action that would expand or restrict the responsibilities and flexibilities granted to State and local educational agencies by Congress."

Scott, the top Democrat on the House's Committee on Education and the Workforce, said DeVos' announcement would "recklessly endanger both students and educators," adding that it was not Congress' intent to let states decide whether to spend the money on firearms.

"It is outrageous that Secretary DeVos will allow federal education funds to be spent putting guns in the classroom," Scott said in a statement.

Education and gun-safety advocates said DeVos had the authority to act and was effectively giving states the go-ahead to purchase firearms with the money, while trying to evade responsibility for doing so. The Education Department's proposal emerged after Texas and Oklahoma asked federal officials how the funds could be used, citing questions from local school districts about using the grants to purchase guns.

"Secretary DeVos and the department cannot claim to be taking 'no action,'" said Adam Skaggs, chief counsel for the Giffords Law Center. "By its words and actions, the department is very clearly giving a green light for the misuse of these funds."

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, condemned DeVos for refusing to outlaw states using Title IV money to buy guns."​

 

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

So when a school shooting occurs, the police are summoned who are armed. What is the objection to having armed personnel onsite?

My sister's children attended a private school until they were of middle school age. As the parents lined up to drop off their children there would be armed security personnel on site for the transfer much in the same way that many of the Jewish schools have armed personnel onsite. None of the kids at any of the schools ever appeared to be the least bit phased by the fact that there were armed security officers in their environment, quite the contrary. They all seemed to understand that the officers were there to ensure their safety.

Are public schools that different from private schools?

 

[BlackFlag]

The inbred, yokel schools of Trump sheep will spend money on guns instead of education. I suspect it's part of their plan to replace low wage, low skill illegal alien jobs.

 

[Sahba]

So when a school shooting occurs, the police are summoned who are armed. What is the objection to having armed personnel onsite?

My sister's children attended a private school until they were of middle school age. As the parents lined up to drop off their children there would be armed security personnel on site for the transfer much in the same way that many of the Jewish schools have armed personnel onsite. None of the kids at any of the schools ever appeared to be the least bit phased by the fact that there were armed security officers in their environment, quite the contrary. They all seemed to understand that the officers were there to ensure their safety.

Are public schools that different from private schools?

Many private schools are quite different from their public school counterparts! Therein lies the problem, with the 'Nanny State' getting the 'minds full of mush' when they're young. It only gets exponentially worse in the (bastions of indoctrination) i.e. higher education, where more nuance & tenets of progressivism get ramped up, lol.